


Letta Me Out!!!

by cheorryeclipse



Category: Flesh & Bones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 11:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19945798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheorryeclipse/pseuds/cheorryeclipse
Summary: When trying to make some extra cash for Loona's debut, Rita becomes convinced that the woman shes dog-sitting for is a serial killer. So she and Morrigan drag F.B.I agent Luke Miller along with them as they violate a woman's privacy and make movie references.





	Letta Me Out!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi if you're in this story that means you IGNORED my tag you stupid looner b!+

Letta Me Out!!!  
May 28th, 2019  
Bones 

“Yo, this woman was straight up in love with a doll.”

“Well that’s one way to get people hooked,” Morrigan said smugly.

“In love with a doll? What are you talking about? ” Luke asked in confusion, looking at Rita driving from the back seat. Luke tapped his foot rapidly and ground his teeth. Maybe going with Rita and Morrigan was a mistake... His black eyes glared through his fluffy blonde bangs out the window into the dimming light speeding past as they drove, putting his cheek in his hand, squishing up his peach skin.

“Ok, let me reiterate since some of you clearly cannot fucking hear,” Rita snapped in her half Minnisotain/half New Yorker accent. She gripped the steering wheel with one hand, speeding down the suburban neighborhood street. Her piercing blue eyes did not move from behind her glasses as she kept her eyes straight ahead. Her dark hijab contrasted her pale, flawless skin. “So, I’m dog sitting for this lady, since I need the extra cash. I get to the house, right? And immediately, I already see that this place is off.” 

“Was she crawling up walls?” Morrigan interjected, making Rita glare at her. 

He glanced over to his partner, and best friend, forensic anthropologist Morrigan Star, sitting in the passenger seat lazily. Her golden upturned eyes stared sharply at Rita, with that familiar playful glint. The golden light from the dimming sun hit her dark skin, highlighting her sharp cheekbones and freckles. Her long peony hair fell elegantly around her face, her bangs covering her forehead. 

“No,” Rita said sharply. “She’s got, like, a shit load of cameras. All around the house. I think they were supposed to be hidden so I didn’t ask about them.”

“So she had security. So what?” Luke said. “What does that have to do with being in love with a doll?” 

“I'm getting to that! She told me to stay out of the basement and the master bedroom, like what?”

“Again. So what? She doesn't want someone snooping around her stuff?”

“She showed me around a bit and told me not to touch anything. Whatever right?” Rita said. “Well, I was looking around the house, taking it all in. On her bookcase, in addition to white supremacy books, she’s got like all these pictures of her and this doll together.” 

“Like sitting on her lap or something?” Luke asked.

“No, like, on dates and in color-coordinated outfits. So I’m like what the fuck, right? Who the hell is this doll? So I go to her Facebook page-”

“Oh, you have Facebook?” Luke asked in interest. 

“Fuck no. I have to reactivate my old account, but I had to figure out what was up with her and this is what I found.” Rita unlocked her phone quickly and it was already open to a post from a one Celsy Bray. Morrigan grabbed the phone from Rita's hand so she could focus on driving and handed it back to Luke. Luke looked at it and scrunched up his nose. 

It was two pictures of a very crude-looking doll about the size of a toddler made out of what appeared to be rotted wood. The first one the doll was next to and older women with short hair. The second one was of the woman sitting with her arm around the doll with the word “FOREVER” photoshopped on. 

“That's freaky…” Luke admitted, handing the phone back to Morrighan who handed it to Rita. 

“I know right?! She’s legitimately in love with a haunted doll because listen to this caption “Letta me out you are one of the most amazing and unique spirited dolls I’ve ever met-” Rita swerved the car for a second to avoid drifting off into a parked car on the side of the rad.

“EYES ON THE ROAD, RITA!” Luke screeched.

“Were in a suburban neighborhood! I’m not going to kill anyone!” Rita said. “Here's the last bit: “ My love and faith stands with you forever.”

“So why are we coming with you again?” Luke said. “I thought we were going to get dinner, but now it looks like I'm getting pulled into a haunted doll story.” 

“You wouldn’t come with me if I said I wanted company while babysitting a haunted doll house! So I lied!”

“We’re not getting dinner?” Luke asked.

“Yous’ guys can eat what’s in the fridge,” Rita said.

“Oh my god.” Luke threw up his arms and fell back into his seat. 

“But you have to admit, it's intriguing, right?” Morrigan said. “How many times do you stumble upon a woman who's in love with a haunted doll?”

“Right?!” Rita said excitedly. “So check it, I did some more research and “Letta Me Out” is a truly haunted doll that went up for auction. He is said to be possessed by an evil spirit that drives people to murder, or something.”

“Murder?” Luke asked, unconvinced.

“So here's my idea: This lady is a serial killer and we need to find evidence for it.”

Luke blinked in surprise, not shying away from an exasperated look. “What?!” He cried. “No way. You guys can't be serious.”

“I'm on Rita’s side for this, she's really suspicious!” Morrigan said.

“Based on the fact that she's in love with a doll?!”

“No, because if an old racist lady is so much in love with a haunted doll that she lets a Muslim woman dog sit for her while she goes out, then she’s straight-up gotta be a serial killer,” Rita said. 

“Yeah, and I gotta say, Luke, this is one of the more interesting cases I’ve seen,” Morrigan said.

“Case?! What case?! Are you suggesting we break into a woman’s house and rummage around in her stuff just because she’s in love with a haunted doll?” Luke said.

“We wouldn’t be breaking and entering, I have a key. Plus she never said I couldn’t invite people over, so just think of it as tea time!” Rita said sarcastically.

“If it was tea time then why are we going in at 9 o’clock at night dressed all in black?” Luke said. 

“Black is kind of my image color,” Morrigan said, running her hands over her tight black dress.

“My hijab isn’t black you color blind bitch. It’s cool grey number three.” Rita said, widely peeling off the main street and crookedly parking in front of a two-story brick house. “Look! We’re here!” 

“Please, Luke?” Morrigan looked back at him. “Just come in a look at it, at least until 12, that’s when Rita goes home.”

“Bitch, I usually fill that dogs food up and go home. I only recently discovered this whole doll thing when her bookcase caught my eye.” Rita said.

“Wait so you’re not even doing your job?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, the fuck? You think I’m going to waste my time at some bullshit house?” 

“Please Luke?” Morrigan asked again, ignoring Rita. 

Luke looked between the two women. Morrigan had a slight smile on her face, tempting him to follow her. On the other hand, Rita looked at him expectantly with her wide blue eyes. Luke sighed and gave in. “Fine.”

Rita squealed in excitement. “Don't worry, the cameras are turned off. Using WiFi to power them, rookie mistake.”

Before Luke could comment Morrigan opened the car door and stepped out onto the street. Rita followed suit. A part of Luke wanted to turn on the car and drive back to the F.B.I offices, to just forget about the creepy house and leave Morrigan and Rita to their own devices. But his body moved on it's own, turning and opening the door and walking to the front of the house.

It was an older model of a suburban house. The bricks were worn and vines climbed up from the base, winding from being untrimmed for years. The grass and plants around weren't much better, turning yellow without water. Rita jangled with her key ring and unlocked the door.

“Shall we?” Rita grinned. Luke shot her a nasty smile.

“Ladies first.” He said. Rita rolled her eyes and swung open the door, walking in. Morrigan stepped in after her, leaving Luke to step in and shut the door. 

“Also another thing-” Rita started as Morrigan reached a long slender finger out to switch on the light switch. Nothing happened. “-none of the light in the house work. You just have to use your phone.”

“Huh?!” Luke asked in shock. “Why do none of the lights work?” 

“How am I supposed to know? The lady is in love with a haunted doll!”

“Stop talking about the doll!” Luke said. 

“I bet if we restart the breaker the lights might work...” Morrigan said.

“I don’t think that’s how lights work.” Luke scowled. He turned and looked around the dark living room they were in. Two walls were completely covered in bookshelves. They were lined with knick-knacks and pictures of the lady and the doll, barely any books. Morrigan broke away from the two and walked over to one of the bookcases to examine it.

Rita walked straight to the kitchen and let Morrigan look around the front room. Luke decided to follow Rita. 

Luke stepped into the kitchen to see a poor dog was stuck in a small cage, with only one bowl of food and water. It glanced up at Luke and then lowered its head. Rita ripped open a bag of food and went over to the cage.

“Hey little buddy, how's it going?” Luke said over Rita’s shoulder. Rita unlocked the cage and coaxed the dog out. Once it did it refilled with life. It started to wag its tail and nuzzle up against Luke. Rita poured the food into the bowl and discarded the packet into the trash can.

“Ain’t my fault he’s in a cage read the instructions she left.” Rita nodded to the paper stuck up on a board. Rita fell onto one of the chairs on the nearby dining table and immediately took out her phone to open Twitter. 

“What’s his name?” Luke asked as he patted the dogs head.

“David,” Morrigan spoke up, startling Luke and Rita. Morrigan stood in front of a page taped to the wall. “A name meaning ‘beloved.’ It’s a biblical reference.’”

Luke walked over to Morrigan and looked over her shoulder to see what was so interesting to her. He scrunched up her nose at what Morrigan was reading. It was a note of instructions pinned to the wall. 

“Keep David in his cage all day, only let him out to pee. If I find you did any differently I won't pay you. I've had people in the past try and poison my dog and I had to deal with them.” Luke read.

“‘Had to deal with them’” Rita repeated. “Ha! You can't tell me that doesn't sound like a serial killer.”

“My mother used to say the same thing when people pissed her off…” Morrigan said. 

“Poor thing, I can't imagine being cooped up all day...” Luke said.

“Funny, because I can. I stay in that office all day,” Rita said, waving her hand as she referenced her job.

“Yeah, but you don't do anything.” Luke shot back. 

“I do stuff!” Rita protested. 

“Play games on your computer, make useless edits, spend countless hours on Twitter, doing anything that's not the thing I asked you to do...” Luke listed. Rita rolled her eyes.

“But I still get stuff done, being the best technical analysts in the F.B.I means I'm good and fast at my job. I can do what I want.” Rita said.

“I'm going to keep looking around,” Morrigan spoke up, ignoring Rita and Luke's bickering. “This place is cool, I like the mystery behind it.”

“I hate how you're treating this like a game,” Luke said, turning away from Rita.

“You can't deny this place is weird though, right?” Morrigan said. “I'm sure you saw something that made you go ‘huh, that's weird.’ What is it?”

Luke paused and thought about it, tapping his chin. “There was no pictures of family.” Luke reluctantly said. “It was just that doll.”

“I honestly don’t even think she has a family. They weren’t on her Facebook page.”

“Maybe she killed them!” Morrigan wiggled her eyebrows.

“There you go making crazy leaps again! I don't this lady is a serial killer…” Luke said. 

“Hey remember when you’re always wrong and I’m always right?” Rita said. “I think you’re forgetting I almost got a psychology degree, I know what I’m talking about.”

“You took advanced psychology in high school and then dropped out of it the first day in college because you hated the teacher. ‘Psychology degree’ my ass.” Luke said. Rita ignored him and rolled her eyes, making a mean face to imitate him. 

“Besides,” Morrigan added. “You know my talent for solving cases, Luke. Take a leap for once. Play with the haunted doll.” 

“I don't want to play with a haunted doll!” Luke snapped at Morrigan, who grinned wider in response, clearly enjoying every second of it.

“Speaking of haunted, yous’ guys gotta check this out-” Rita shot up from her chair and waved the two to follow her upstairs. Morrigan followed her without protest, and Luke didn't want to be the only one downstairs in the dark, so he complied and followed them up the stairs into a single hallway. 

Like downstairs, the hallway was cast in darkness. It was a long a corridor lined with at least seven different doors. Most of which looked like closets. 

“This is one of the only unlocked doors in the house,” Rita said as she led the two to the end of the hallway where two doors were facing each other. “She said if I needed a place to rest I could use this room but it's absolutely horrible.”

Rita chose the door on the left and opened it like it was just another door in her house, rather than a pitch-black one in some creepy lady's house. Morrigan reached for the light switch in the room and flipped it on, but nothing happened, no reassuring light filled the room. 

“Man, what's the deco motif of this room? Prison cell?” Morrigan said, slowly turning round and round in the bare room with her phone flashlight. She trailed over to the bedside table and examined a picture.

“She's not much of a decorator is she...” Luke said, gravitating towards Rita who was typing on her phone and bouncing around to whatever song she was listening through her AirPods. 

“I could do the math, and the answers she's a boring old lady who has nothing to show for her life,” Rita said. 

“Now that's just mean,” Luke said.

“Whatever. You're going to freak when you see this,” Rita smirked evilly. “Look under the bed.”

Luke froze with wide eyes, but Morrigan complied and got down on all fours to look under the bed. 

After a long period of silence, Morrigan stood up and flipped her hair back over her shoulders. “There’s nails underneath the bed?”

“Nails? Could you please specify what type of nails?” Luke said

Morrigan shrugged. “Just humble nails used to nail stuff.” 

“And tell him what that means, Miss Anthropologist,” Rita said smugly. 

Morrigan cocked her head to the side and tapped her chin. “Nails under intimate living spaces actually do mean something, in covens. It can mean one or two things: One, the owner is fending off aggressive magic. Or two, there are curses placed in the area or the owner is cursed.”

“She's practicing witchcraft?!” Luke cried.

“But, she’s in love with a haunted doll so I don't know what witchcraft has to do with anything. But I did find that fun little fact out with a quick google search and with the help of Twitter.” Rita said proudly.

“I don’t like witches Rita. They put curses on people and turn them into frogs!” Luke said.

“Come on, Luke,” Rita drawled. “You really telling me an F.B.I agent believes in witches? They don’t exist. Just like magic. If anything this house is haunted by a Jinn.”

“Haunted…?”

“You know it's so cute when you get scared over imaginary ghosts,” Morrigan teased, brushing past the bickering two. “You almost sound like, Yin.”

“Yeah.” Rita agreed. “And Yin whines a lot. Believe me, I know. I have to listen to it all day. It's so annoying.” 

“Well, maybe he wouldn't nag you all day if you would just do your work!” Luke snapped.

“Oh come on, it always gets done in the end. You know for an F.B.I agent you bitch a lot. I thought you guys were supposed to be brave!” Rita said sarcastically.

“You know for an F.B.I technical analysis, you sure don't do a lot of analysis!” Luke shot back.

“Try me, I’m the head of my department with no prior experience. You know I’m the best!”

“Wait,” Luke said, finally realizing they were standing alone in a completely dark room. “Where did Morrigan go?” He and Rita shared a glance with each other and dashed towards the door; they pushed and shoved each other to get out of the door first, not wanting to be the last one out, and fell into the dark hallway. No sight of Morrigan.

“Morrigan!?” Luke called it into the darkness.

“I'm in here!” He heard her call. Luke cautiously followed her voice into the room in front of them. Inside, Morrigan was knelt by something. 

It was was a porcelain doll sitting on a small wooden rocking chair. It looked out a window on the far right wall with ice blue eyes. It had golden ringlets that fell around its face and an intricately sewn white dress with pink accents. 

“This was one of the rooms I’m not allowed in…” Rita said from behind Luke. 

“You broke and entered it Morrigan?!” Luke said, angrily stomping over to Morrigan. 

“No. I picked the lock and entered. No breaking involved…” Morrigan said simply. Her eyes didn't move from the doll as she traced a finger down it's pristine porcelain skin “Such a beautiful doll… Don't you think?” Morrigan chuckled.

“Stop being creepy,” Luke said. 

“Sacred of a doll, Lukey?” Morrigan teased, creepily brushing her fingers down the detailed white dress the doll was wearing. 

“Yeah! I'm starting to get freaked out... Dolls are really scary...” Luke glared at the nickname Morrigan called him. “I don't like them. I just can't explain it.”

“It's the Jaws effect,” Morrigan said. “You've watched so many horror movies that show dolls as scary you started to believe it.”

“It's not the Jaws effect!” Luke said. “I just think their eyes are really creepy… Especially if they're so human-like. It's like a ghost staring back at you.”

“Why are you so scared of ghosts? They don’t exist.” Morrigan said. 

“I could give you three paranormal encounters I’ve had that beg to differ,” Luke said.

“Oh my god don’t you dare talk about the plastic bag.” Rita groaned from behind them.

“There was no air in the bathroom, how else would it have moved like that!”

“Gravity!” Rita said.

“Guys you’re fighting again!!! Shut up before the neighbors call the cops on us, it’s 9 PM in a suburban neighborhood!” Morrigan interjected between the two. 

“When you guys get murdered by a ghost I’m saying I told you so,” Luke said, crossing his arms. Rita slowly raised her phone to take a selfie with the doll for her Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter or wherever she was going to deface the doll. 

“I noticed the dress is hand sewn,” Morrigan said. “Many seamstresses actually have their own signature when sewing, a technique only they know and master.”

“Dude!” Rita said, stepping away from the doll. “There was a Criminal Minds episode like that! “This lady was obsessed with dolls so she kidnapped women and dressed them up as her favorite dolls and then killed them!”

“Well, that's reassuring.” Luke rolled his eyes.

“What is this lady even sewing a weird-ass doll a dress for anyway?” Rita said. “I feel like this proves the serial killer theory.”

Morrigan stood up from the doll and brushed past the two to the dresser in the room. “Like I’m supposed to know. I'm not a psychic.” Quickly she glanced at everything in the drawers, taking in every part of this woman's life. Morrigan stepped back from the dresser and leaned against it, lost in her own thoughts while Luke and Rita cautiously watched the doll looking out of the window against the far right wall. 

“I think it’s her...” Morrigan said in thought. “This doll does look eerily similar to her own self. From 20 years ago, like the pictures she has up on her bookcase.”

Luke thought back to the pictures framed, he didn't have Morrigan's eidetic memory but he did remember the pictures being of a young woman with ringlets with detailed dresses. Not one picture of family, but many of her.

“Yeah, I see what you mean… Why would she leave a doll of herself here…” Luke said.

“Um. To watch over the house and the spirits of her victims. Duh.” Rita said and rolled her eyes.

“Now you're just pulling shit out of thin air,” Luke said. 

“Wait shut up!” Rita held up her hands and instantly silenced Morrigan Luke. “...Do you hear that?”

Morrigan cocked her head to the side and squinted. Luke went completely still.

“No?” Luke said. 

“How can you hear anything, you have your AirPods in, are you sure it's not the music?” Morrigan asked.

“It's not loud music, in fact, it's a ballad. I think having a constant stream of low music in my ear has trained them to listen very carefully to the things around me.”

“I think it's ruining your ears,” Luke said.

“Show me where I asked, Luke.” Rita snapped. “I think it's in the next room over,” Rita said, holding her finger in the air to keep them silent. Morrigan squinted. Rita turned and lead the two out of the room and into the next room over.

As soon as Rita violently swung open the door Luke knew exactly what sound she was talking about.

“Oh, that sound...” Luke groaned.

The room was identical to the last, everything in the same place. The bed was stripped and the room bare. The bedside dresser held a radio, the singular object in the room. Static played from the speakers, left between stations. 

“The radio was left between stations…” Morrigan mused. 

“Dude I learned this from Ghost Adventures!” Rita said excitedly. “Static can be used to communicate with spirits. I bet if you listen really closely you could hear voices.”

“Spirits?” Luke said. He glanced around the room. “The more I see of the house the more I'm convinced it's haunted…” 

“Yeah! We should start our own ghost hunting show!” Rita said, stars practically in her eyes. “If we knew this house was haunted before we could have brought all the stuff that you Christian people use to get rid of them! Holy Water, Bible a T…”

“A T...?” Luke said slowly. “What's a T?”

“A Tee is a stand used to support a stationary ball so that the player can strike it,” Morrigan spoke up from over by the radio, examining it.

“No, a TEE is Transesophageal echocardiography, a test that produces pictures of your heart,” Rita said.

“No-” Morrigan started.

“Guys,” Luke sighed in annoyance, holding up a hand to cut Morrigan off. “I asked a simple question to what Rita said, I don't need you two to start this back and forth thing.”

Rita and Morrigan exchanged and grin. Rita suppressed a laugh and answered Luke. “Luke, you're Christian, you know what a T is. It's those things they have in Churches. Y’know? I'm like TT?” Rita did a quick dance move and grinned at him. Luke closed his eyes in annoyance when he realized what Rita meant. 

“That's a cross.” He deadpanned. 

Rita gave a (faux) confused look. “What do you mean a cross? Across from where?”

“You know what I mean, Rita!” 

“Why would she have an entirely stripped room…” Morrigan said, breaking up the twos fight. She sighed and went back to her snooping, going over to the dresser and started shuffling through it. Nothing in all of the drawers. But they were dust-free, as if they were recently used. After closing all the drawers she wandered out back into the hall. Luke followed, but bumped straight into her back when she froze.

“Morrigan!” Luke groaned.

There was a shuffling sound from outside, Morrigan squinted her eyes and darted around the hallway, listening intently. “That, I heard…” Morrigan said. 

“No…” Luke groaned. 

“It's not a ghost, Luke.” Morrigan rolled her eyes. “It’s coming from downstairs. And obviously, we have to go see what it is!”

“I already hate this…” Luke said. “This is exactly how you die in horror movies…”

“Just come on!” Morrigan motioned. 

The three walked down to the end of the hall and down the stairs into the living room where the front door was. Luke reluctantly followed Rita and Morrigan who seemed completely fine with the fact that there was some sort of unknown noise outside. Morrigan stopped in the middle of the living room, listening closely. Morrigan switched off her flashlight, letting darkness engulf her. Luke couldn't help but yelp in surprise. 

“Shuffling sound at the front door,” Morrigan whispered, nodding towards the door.

“What, do you think someone's out there?” Luke whispered back. 

“If it's a robber I say let them come in, I bet they'd get freaked out by the house too, and then Luke would arrest them!” Rita said from behind them. Luke shushed her.

“Technically,” Morrigan whispered. “‘Robber’ refers to someone taking something off your person with force. Burglar is the correct term for a night break-in. If it was during the day it would be called housebreaker.” 

“I don't care what you call it,” Luke snapped. “Rita just stay back in the corner in case it is a robber.”

“Burglar.” Morrigan corrected.

“Burglar…” Luke grumbled as he went to the front window, coated in heavy curtains. Luke slightly moved them out of the way and silver moonlight spilled in, the sun had completely set since they had arrived. Luke looked around the dark porch but he couldn't see much because there was an unattended bush that blocked his view. “I can't see anything… This bush is in the way.”

“I've got a better idea,” Morrigan said, she quickly grabbed the doorknob and swung the front door open before Luke could protest.

“Morrigan!” Luke shout-whispered.

Morrigan poked her head out. Her eyes widened and she gasped, slamming the door shut quickly.

“What!? What is it!?” Luke cried.

Morrigan turned around slowly. “Family of possums…” Morrigan whispered. “They're all on the porch…”

“Ew…” Rita scrunched up her nose from behind them. “I hate those things… Me and Morrigan get them at the mansion all the time. They're disgusting.”

“I find their bone structures fascinating…” Morrigan said offhandedly, opening the door just a crack to look out at them. They were scrapping around on the porch for any sort of nutrition. “Their skulls are almost like a canine…”

“Morrigan close the door!” Luke said at a normal volume, making the possums scatter off the front porch step and into the darkness. 

“You scared them…” Morrigan said sadly.

“I don't care. Close the door.” Luke said. Morrigan complied and shut the door. 

“What did you think it was?” Morrigan teased. 

“Ghost~” Rita called out in a sing-song voice. 

“S-shut up!” Luke blushed. “At least I think it was a robber!”

“Burglar.” Morrigan corrected.

“I don't care! No one does!”

“Yo, look at this, guys,” Rita said from her conner, drawing Luke and Morrigan's attention away from their bickering. Rita was holding a book and slowly flipping through the pages. Morrigan and Luke went over to her to see what she was looking at. Rita closed the book and held up the cover for them to read. 

“How to Walk in the Supernatural Power.” Morrigan read. “Now that's a page-turner.”

“Really makes you think, huh,” Rita said. “Ties into a lot of the stuff in this boring ass house. Like the nails n’ shit.”

“I think this house is anything but boring,” Luke said.

“I agree,” Morrigan said. She grabbed the book from Rita's hands and started to flip through it. “This house is quite fascinating, as well as its occupant. It does appear she's practicing with the supernatural…” It took Morrigan less than three seconds to read each page of the book. 

“Goddamn, she reads fast… Talk about nerd alert!” Rita murmured loudly to Luke, completely aware that Morrigan could hear her. 

Morrigan didn't bother with the argument Rita was dangling out in front of her. “She's got pages bookmarked on witches, communicating with spirits and rituals for death and soul transfer.” 

“Soul transfer?” Rita asked.

“The transfer of a living soul into an inanimate object, old practices.” Morrigan shrugged simply. 

Rita gasped. “The doll...”

“Shut up about that doll, Rita!” Luke said. “I don't like the thought of a human soul trapped in a doll! It's like Toy Story, but much scarier.”

“It's a valid idea,” Rita said. “If she were a doll collector she would have more than one doll but no, she's in love with a haunted doll and the only other one in the house is that creepy replica of herself.”

“I do think there might be more…” Morrigan said, she closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Luke and Rita looked at her.

“What makes you say that?” Luke asked.

“I just don't think that a woman this obsessed with dolls would have only two. But I guess one of them is her boyfriend so does that count…?” Morrigan trailed off in thought. “I just feel like she would've had more, at least more than two.”

Luke was going to ask her more, but they were all interrupted by a thump from upstairs. Luke's entire body was instantly covered in chills. Morrigan raised her eyebrows at the noise. 

“Well!” Rita said, breaking the tense silence. “Obviously we have to go check it out!” 

“What are you? Crazy?!” Luke cried. “That's how you get killed! Have you guys never watched a horror movie before!?”

“Actually,” Rita held up a finger. “I have not. They're all boring and repetitive. I was forced to watch the Seventh Sense as a kid, though.”

“It's the Sixth Sense, Rita,” Luke said.

“Huh? Oh, really?” Rita said. “I guess I’m thinking of the NCT song. Whatever, they did it better than whoever made that movie anyway.”

“M. Night Shyamalan.” Luke corrected. 

“Bless you.” Both Rita and Morrigan said in unison as they brushed passed him from the corner of bookcases and towards the stairs. 

“I’m going to strangle both of you…” Luke grumbled under his breath. He didn't want to be left alone in the darkness of the living room, so he followed Rita and Morrigan back up the stairs quickly. 

Rita unceremoniously stomped her way into the doll room, swinging open the door. Morrigan looked over her shoulder and burst out laughing. Luke, stuck behind the two, couldn't see in.

“What? What is it!?” Luke asked.

“Oh, you're going to hate this…” Morrigan laughed, moving out of the way so Luke could see in.

The doll had fallen off the chain and was staring directly at them from the floor.

“Nope!” Luke said, turning away and instantly tried to walk away to leave, but Morrigan grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

“Come on, Luke!” Morrigan laughed. “You've seen Chucky, they beat the doll in the end!”

“I don't want to think about it, Morrigan!” Luke screeched, fighting with Morrigan grip trying to get free, which only made her grab his arms. “I don't want to go into a room with a doll who fell off a chair on its own! It's like the plastic bag!”

“That bag fell because of gravity and you know it.” Rita chimed in.

“Luke! Luke!” Morrigan slapped him across the face, that was enough to get him to stop struggling. “Chill out! Let's just look at the doll. And don't worry Mr. F.B.I Agent, I promise you that I, Forensic Anthropologist Morrigan Star, will protect you from the little girl doll. There's no need to be afraid.”

“This goes against my entire moral code!” Luke said. “You know I don't mess with the supernatural!”

“How bout’ this,” Morrigan said. “You come into the doll room with me and Rita and I won't tell everyone at the offices that you're scared of little girl dolls.”

Luke shook off Morrigan's hands and glared at her. “Fine. But just know if a ghost comes out and attacks us I’m running and leaving you to hold your own.”

“That's completely ok, you know I won't die~,” Morrigan said slyly. 

“You say that but confidence only gets you so far…” Luke grumbled, brushing past Morrigan and giving a nasty smile to Rita who held out her arms inviting Luke in. 

The three stepped into the dark room, with the single doll sitting on the floor. Morrigan bent down to examine it, trying to figure out how it fell off it's chair. Luke stood off to the side, leaning against the wall and wishing he was back at the F.B.I offices.

Morrigan scoffed. “An eidetic memory can be a curse sometimes…” 

“What do you mean?” Luke asked.

“I'm not completely sure if I would have noticed this if I didn't remember every single detail about everything but…” She paused and moved out of the way to reveal the doll. “It's looking left. I don't think the fall could change the direction it was looking...”

Luke’s eyes winded in instant realization to what Morrigan meant. “Was… It looking right before?” 

Morrigan slowly nodded. “I mean I could be wrong, but my memory is never wrong. Sure my ideas might be wrong sometimes. In more ways than one.” Morrigan wiggled her eyebrows at Luke, but he didn't see or seem to care because he was too focused staring at the doll staring directly at him.

“How did it even fall in the first place…” Luke whispered.

“First of all, stop whispering. It's a doll, it's not like it can hear you,” Morrigan said. “Second of all, I, uh... I don't know how it fell... Gravity?”

“Oh my god…” Luke said. “When Morrigan Star doesn't have an explanation for something you know it's bad.” 

“Hey, that means I was right about the doll being possessed by a soul! This lady is cray-cray!” Rita sang out.

“I could do without the commentary, Rita,” Luke said. “I'm not going to praise you for taking me into a house with a haunted doll! I wanted to go get dinner!”

“Whatever. I need a plug. My phones on like, 0%. And my AirPods just died too.” Rita said, changing the subject. Rita turned away to leave the room but stopped and looked back at Luke. “It also doesn't help that I have, like, one bar. Like seriously! What kind of house is this? No cell service?” Rita rolled her eyes and left without another word, leaving Luke alone with Morrigan who was standing innocently by the demon doll from the devil forest. Luke scowled at it. 

“That-” He jabbed a finger at the still doll. “-is the worst thing I've ever seen, and I've been in the same room as a dead body.”

“I want to go check out the other rooms! I'm having fun! I love mysteries that you can't explain!” Morrigan said. She started to leave the room, Luke quickly followed her into the hallway to see Rita sitting in the hallway by an outlet, typing on her phone. 

“You can do that alone. I can't believe you're having fun. I'm going to stay in this hallway.” Luke said. Morrigan looked back at him and grinned.

“You scared? Or do you just want to be alone with Rita?” She raised her eyebrows. Luke's face heated up.

“S-Shut up, Morrigan.” He grumbled, not being able to think of a comeback. He trudged over to Rita and sat down beside her. 

Morrigan dropped her joking instantly and turned to the last room that hadn't been open. She reached her hand around the cold metal and opened up to familiar darkness. She shone her flashlight around the room and immediately noticed the same pattern. 

One bed, one dresser, and one bedside table. No decoration. The rooms all felt slightly closed in, the windows were painted shut, and the walls seemed to feel like prison bars.

But there was one thing about the room differed from the others, though. The bed had fresh coverings on it. Morrigan walked over to the small bed and ran her fingers along the seams of the quilt, looking at each and every one of the designs embroidered on it. It seemed pretty standard for a guest bedroom, but according to Rita, this lady did not have any friends or family to have a guest. 

She let it be, maybe this lady had some secret friends. Instead, Morrigan walked over to the dresser, noting it was free of dust. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and started to open the drawers. All of them were empty except one, and the only thing in it was a simple blue dress folded neatly sitting in the middle of the drawer. Morrigan didn't touch it, cocking her head in interest at the singled blue dress and closed the drawer. 

Morrigan took one more spin of the room, feeling something was off with the whole place; But she couldn't see it. The walls were as bare as the rest of the place, but they didn't matter. The bed and drawer are the two things that were different. But what they meant was beyond Morrigan. 

She was about to give up and leave the room when something caught her eye. A carving on the bedpost. Bingo. She went over and crouched down to read it. It was a carving of a single word.

Hope.

The crudely scratched out message was a word of inspiration, of happiness, or belief. Morrigan looked a little closer and shine her light on the carving. Red specks shone in the deeply dug spaces, as if someone carving it out with their fingernails till they bled. Morrigan squinted her eyes and stood up.

She finally noticed something else, too. Right at the base of the door, the carpet had been replaced. Just one patch of it, it stood out. It was cleaner than the rest of the floor. The door looked almost freshly painted over too. Morrigan crouched and looked at the door, it certainly smelled of fading paint fumes. But the painted over patch was only on the bottom half. Morrigan couldn't tell what had been painted over, but there were faint, painted over, indent marks dragged down from the middle of the door. 

Morrigan stood up and placed her hand around the doorknob, pausing for one second. She looked back into the dark room and felt a melancholy energy cloud her heart. It was the type of energy she hungered for, and constantly fed off of.

Something was terribly wrong. 

Morrigan opened the door and left the room without a second thought. She went up to Luke and Rita who were still sitting on the floor, Rita charging both her phone and her AirPods. Morrigan caught the last part of Rita's statement as she reached them. 

“-Then he asked how to eat sunflower seeds. Like, are you more stupid than a bird?” Rita drawled out. Luke laughed.

“That's a guest bedroom,” Morrigan said, motioning back to the door she left as she stood over the two. 

“I don't know why, the bitch doesn't have any family or friends,” Rita said.

“She could have secret friends. You don't know all my friends from college.” Luke said.

“You have friends from college?” Morrigan and Rita asked at the same time. 

“That's- That's not the point. I just don't think a guest bedroom is enough evidence for you guys’ serial killer theory.” Luke said.

“I don't know…” Morrigan plopped down beside Luke on the floor. “I have a feeling…”

“Oh great,” Luke rolled his eyes. “This always happens. You get a crazy idea in your head and then you don't want to consider any other theory.”

“I consider other theories!” Morrigan said. “Just not yours, because they're usually bad.” 

“Seriously, what are we even doing here?” Luke asked. “We are just sitting in a dark house talking about ghosts and movies! We saw everything there is to see, so why don't we actually go get some dinner.”

“There is a basement,” Rita said, not looking up from her phone. Morrigan looked at her with intrigue. 

Luke groaned. “That great. I'm guessing I won't be able to stop you guys from going to the basement, will I?”

“Nope,” Rita and Morrigan said. Morrigan jumped up and did a quick stretch. Rita checked her AirPods percentage, back up to 100%, and unplugged her charger despite only being back up to 30%. 

“She made it very clear that I wasn't allowed in the basement, but come on. What am I going to do? Not break-in?” Rita said as she put her AirPods back in behind her hijab.

“One day you'll get arrested, I swear...” Luke squinted at Rita who restarted whatever kpop artist she was listening to that week; one Luke couldn't recognize despite hanging out with her almost every day, WJSN.

“Whatever.” Rita rolled her eyes. “Let's be real, I'm one of the best detectives out there.” 

“Guys!” Morrigan whined from the top of the stairs, waiting to go down. Luke shook his head and followed Morrigan to the stairs. Rita took a quick Snapchat of herself in the hallway with the dog-filter before following them downstairs. 

They all filed into the kitchen, advancing to the door at the end of it that leads to the basement. David stuck by the door, clawing at the tile floor. 

“Oh, I don't like that…” Luke said, fear welling back up inside his chest.

“Come on, Luke. It's not all that bad- Oh wait-” Rita stopped talking and held a finger up and mouthed along to what appeared to be a long note in the song she was listening too. Luke stared at her blankly as Morrigan ignored the two and began to work on the lock. Rita hit the silent note and made an invisible mic drop. “That part always gets me. Yeonjung’s high notes always hit hard.”

Luke didn't understand 100% what she was saying Rita liked the song she was listening too, and he nodded blankly. Morrigan clicked the lock open and the basement was unlocked. 

“There we go!” Morrigan said.

“This is so unethical… If I get murdered down there by a ghost I'm haunting both of you.” Luke said.

“Well, then I'll go first.” Morrigan rolled her eyes, shining her phone light down the rickety, old wooden stairs that lead into pitch-black darkness. Morrigan walked down the stairs with her long legs and into the basement. Once down in the darkness, Morrigan saw one switch that turned on one, dim, light in the middle of the room. 

“Hey! One of the lights finally worked!” Rita cried happily, bouncing in. Luke cautiously followed behind them. 

“It's not much help, though…” Luke said, the light only seemed to light up the middle of the room and nothing else. 

He looked around the place. It was a basement alright, it was dusty and dark and filled with shelves like a general store. Morrigan instantly broke away from the two and went off on her own to look around at all the stuff lined in the musty room. Rita settled for going up to the closest shelf set up in the middle of the room. 

“Wow look at all this… stuff.” Rita said as she picked up an old newspaper by its corner, examining the dust coating it and watched the silverfish scurry away from her to the bottom of the box. Luke turned his head to read the title.

“Missing 25-year-old woman.” He read. Rita dropped the paper and it fell crumpled into the box. Luke shot her a glare and slightly pushed her out of the way to look at the other papers in the box.

“This is boring. I don't want to read I want to detect shit.” Rita said.

“To be a detective you need to read,” Luke said as he thumbed through the newspapers. There were 27 of them and each one was on a missing 20-25-year-old mother. The papers were as new as three months ago; the first newspaper Rita pulled out was the oldest, dating back to May 1987. “These are all missing persons…”

That caught Rita’s attention immediately. “What the fuck I was right?! Move!” Rita shoved Luke out of the way and roughly and began to shuffle through the papers. “What kind of non-serial killer keep missing person papers in her basement? If you don't think this is solid evidence then you deserve to be shot. Hol’ up… Lemme just read this shit-”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Luke reached for the first newspaper but Rita swatted his hand away. He glared at her. “You're not even reading it! Give it to me!”

Rita swiped up the newspaper and held it close to her chest. “No. I found it it's mine.”

“Rita!”

Rita sighed and handed it to him. “Whatever. My heart wasn't even in it anyway.”

Luke snatched the paper from her and looked at it. It had a black and white photo of a young woman with long blond ringlets, and a young girl next to her. The young girl was wearing a white dress with pink accents… And holding a porcelain doll in her arms. Luke read the first paragraph.

“Mary Brey was confirmed to have gone missing on Tuesday, May 26. The young woman was the mother of a child, and was confirmed to be in a bad relationship with a boyfriend. The main suspect as of right now is her boyfriend, Jerry Bowden, who is also missing. Her child is currently in a foster home.”

“Brey… That was the lady's last name…” Luke murmured.

“Uh, yeah, Luke,” Rita said, dropping the paper she held and looking over Lukes' shoulder. “It says it right there.”

Luke glared at her. “It's like when Morrigan's not around you take up the role of making annoying jokes.”

“But are they at least funny?”

Luke ignored her. “I mean that's this woman's name, the one whose house we're in right now. There's something weird about all these stories. I think it might've been her mother...”

“I'll say. All of these papers have the same M.O.” Rita said off-handedly, getting on her phone most likely to refresh Twitter again.

That's when Lukes blood ran cold. “Rita... You might've been right… Something's not adding up here...” Luke said. “All of these missing persons either turned up in Wisconsin or were never found again…”

“If you're thinking the first newspaper is her mom then it's copying that…” Rita said. She bounced up and down in excitement. “I knew watching all 11 seasons of Criminal Minds was a good idea! I'm literally a profiler!”

“Hey, guys,” Morrigan poked her head around one of the shelves, startling Luke. “You two are going to get a kick out of this,” Morrigan said, motioning for the two to follow her to the back of the basement. Luke and Rita shared a glance but followed Morrigan deeper into the dark basement. Towards the very back, there was a large shelf, as rotted as everything else.

And lining it's shelves were porcelain dolls, all staring straight ahead. 

Luke could help but let his jaw drop. “...How many are there?” Luke asked. “God there's so many! And they're all staring directly at us…”

“I counted 27,” Morrigan said inspecting the dolls. “This is really fantastic work, each doll looks different from each other. Each one had a different outfit, too.”

Each doll had been perfectly crafted to look a certain way, the faces almost felt familiar to Morrigan. A face she had passed once, someone she had seen in a shop or on the news… 

“I don't understand why she has these beautifully crafted dolls lined up in her basement,” Rita said, pulling out her phone and take a landscape photo of the shelf. “If they're so beautiful wouldn't she want to display them out in her house?”

“Maybe she doesn't want them to get broken or hurt?” Luke suggested. 

“Oh, great plan,” Rita said. “Just keep the dolls in the dusty, dark basement to keep them safe.”

“They’re so sad…” Morrigan said. Luke and Rita focused their attention on her with a confused look. 

“What do you mean?” Luke asked. “Like, sad that she collects dolls at her age?”

Morrigan shook her head. “I don’t know how to explain it… They have melancholy energy around them…” Morrigan said. She stared directly into their glass eyes. Emotion trapped behind them, Morrigan could feel it. 

“Ok…” Luke said, not quite understanding what Morrigan meant. Morrigan didn’t respond further and kept her attention on the shelf. Rita decided not to bother her and took out her phone to check Twitter again. 

Morrigan swore she knew these dolls. They were just too familiar. She couldn’t deny that she felt something off, the second she walked into the house it was evident to her. The dolls glass eyes didn’t stab into Morrigan skin, they seemed… trapped. Then, it clicked and Morrigan couldn’t help but slightly gasp and surprise. 

“Allie Dutta,” Morrigan said and snapped her fingers.

Luke snapped his eyes up at her and Rita took her attention away from her phone to look at Morrigan staring directly at one of the hypnotizing dolls. 

“What?”

“I knew I had seen some of these faces before. Number 20, Allie Dutta. The more I look at her the more I recognized her,” Morrigan nodded to the doll.

“Wait what do you mean you ‘recognize’ her?” Luke asked.

“She went missing about three months ago, I remember they broadcasted her face on the news for about a week,” Morrigan said. “That's Allie. The dolls clothing matches what Allie was wearing the night she went missing. I remember that.” Morrigan said walking over to the doll, it's coconut eyes unmoving, but they seemed to stare at Morrigan in fear. Morrigan delicately brushed the silky hair out of her face and examined the outfit. “They found her remains about four weeks ago in a small town in Wisconsin. I was the one who went over to help with the examination.” 

“Wait a second, Wisconsin? That's where the lady told me she was going.” Rita started. “And Allie Dutta? I saw that name looking through the newspapers.” Rita turned back and dashed over to the box of newspapers to search.

“What did you conclude from Dutta?” Luke asked Morrigan.

“That she was murdered,” Morrigan said. Luke's eyes widened. 

“Found it!” Rita called, dashing bash with a fairly clean newspaper. She held it up into Luke's face who scrunched up his nose and moved way. “Look! Allie Dutta! She went missing when you said she did! Coincidence? I think not!” 

Luke gasped. 27 dolls. 27 stories. Suddenly it clicked.

“The first one is her mother,” Luke said. He rushed back to the box too and lugged it over to the dolls. He pulled each story out and matched the missing person's picture to the doll's face. “27 dolls. 27 stories. Each of a missing mother lost and sometimes never found again. Much like her mother who left her alone as a child.” 

“Girl… Omfg…” Rita said.

Morrigan looked at the end of the line, there wasn't a doll sitting there to complete the row, but only a single dress. Another simple light blue dress, this time fit for a doll, sitting neatly on the shelf. 

Hope.

“We’re missing someone…” Morrigan said flatly, pointing to the light blue dress sitting on the shelf, uninhabited. Rita and Luke turned to Morrigan. “Where is this woman?” 

“Wait, who?” Luke asked. 

“I’m… not sure…” Morrigan said thoughtfully. “I have a feeling…”

“Wait… Rita, why did this lady need a dog sitter exactly?” Luke asked. 

“She said she had a business trip to go on or somethin',” Rita waved her hand dismissively. “My brain kinda checked out and completely agreed to it once she said she would pay me a hundred a day for two weeks.”

“See, I told you there was no ghost Luke,” Morrigan said. “We have to find the missing girl!” 

“We can open an investigation as soon as we get back to the F.B.I,” Luke reassured. 

Rita clapped her hands and whooped in triumph. “I was right! She's a serial killer. I think you need to start taking my psychic senses seriously. My mom always did say there was something special about me.” 

“Are you kidding?” Luke sighed. 

“Quick think of a color,” Rita said, and without missing a beat, guessed. “Green.”

Luke blinked in surprise. “Oh my god…” Luke looked at her in shock. “It was green.”

“I feel like we're getting a little sidetracked here,” Morrigan interrupted. “I’ve had this plan formulating in my head for about five seconds and I guaranteed, 100% that it's going to work. We gotta drive to Wisconsin!”

“No, we're not doing that!” Luke cried. 

“Oh hell yeah that sounds awesome!” Rita said. “I could use a vacation!”

“This is not a vacation, this is a serial killer. We’re going back to the F.B.I reporting what we found and letting the agents take over. Need I remind you the last time you two worked on a case together.” Luke said. The three turned away from the dolls to leave the basement. 

“We caught a serial killer!” Rita said proudly. 

“You crashed a wedding!”

“To catch a serial killer!” Rita and Morrigan protested at the same time. 

“No. And that's that. No driving to Wisconsin,” Luke said firmly, leading everyone back up the old wooden stairs. “I don't want to have to lock you guys in an interrogation room again so you do ruin anything.” 

“That's a great idea, Luke, but I have an unrelated question,” Morrigan said stopping everyone so they stood around the entrance to the basement. “Are there any bus routes that lead back to the city around here?”

“Uh… Yeah,” Luke said, taking a second to visualize the bus routes in his head. “There's a 12 that runs a block from here,” Luke said, nodding in the vague direction of the bus stop.

“One more question: how late do the buses run?”

“Till one.”

Morrigan glanced at the analog clock in the kitchen. It was half-past 10. “Perfect.” She quickly slammed a hand into Lukes' chest and knocking him back into the basement. He yelped in surprise. She grabbed the door and quickly slammed it shut, struggling to lock it again as Luke pounded against the door.

“Morrigan! Morrigan! Don't you dare!!! Let me out of this basement! I don't want to be alone with the haunted dolls!”

“Sorry, Luke! Think of it this way: I'm helping you! Face your fears of little girl dolls!” Morrigan said.

“Morrigan!”

Morrigan was already dragging Rita away towards the exit. “Sorry, Lukey! You're an F.B.I agent, I'm sure you can get out somehow! We just need a head start to Wisconsin!”

“Morrigan, you asshole!”

“You can figure your way out! Just use that big brain of yours!” Morrigan called from the front door. “It's a learning experience for when you actually get kidnapped and locked in a basement!” Morrigan laughed and slammed the front door.

“Morrigan!” Luke yelled one last time, but Morrigan and Rita were already gone. 

As quick as the search began, it ended. The two of them (plus David) left the house riddled with a terrible feeling. Morrigan and Rita bounded out of the house giggling with David hot on their trail as they planned their spur of the moment trip to Wisconsin. Morrigan felt the energy of the house whirl around her, screaming at them as they left. But, maybe, that was just Luke.

**Author's Note:**

> Stan Loona, stan Pink Fantasy


End file.
